Looking for NFL playoff picture Week 18: All details out

The details for NFL Playoff picture week 18 is out! Every week for the duration of the 2023 NFL regular season we will provide real-time updates to all the league’s ever-evolving playoff picture. It is starting after Sunday afternoon’s late games and then moving forward for the remainder of the schedule.

What really just happened? What does it really mean? What are some of the pertinent factors (and, perhaps, tiebreakers) prominently in play as each conference’s seven-team bracket begins to crystallize? All will now be explained and analyzed up to the point when the postseason field is finalized on the evening of Jan. 7.

NFL Playoff Picture Week 18:

11 of all the 16 NFC teams have either clinched a playoff spot or are now alive for one going into the final game. Several questions start with the NFC East. The Dallas Cowboys have won the division with a victory over the Washington Commanders. The Commanders’ win or loss also has a pretty big say in the draft order, so people in Washington will be watching that.

The NFC South is still unsettled. The Buccaneers get that with a win over the Panthers, but the Saints or Falcons, could sneak in and win that division title if the Buccaneers lose. There’s a lot more of drama left for all the recent wild card spots, too. We know the Rams have won. The NFC East runner-up has one.

But surely there are still a handful of teams that could get that final wild card spot in the NFC. That starts with the amazing one the Packers. If they win, they’re surely in the playoffs. But if Green Bay loses, that tends to open up the door for a team like the Seahawks, Vikings, Saints. Even the Buccaneers now have a small shot at the wild card, but they would really have to tie the Panthers for that scenario to be enacted. There’s still a lot left to be determined. The playoff picture is wide open as we go into the regular season finale.